Classroom Design - Literature Review PREPARED FOR THE SPECIAL COMMITTEE ON CLASSROOM DESIGN PROFESSOR MUNG CHIANG, CHAIR PRINCETON UNIVERSITY BY: LAWSON REED WULSIN JR. SUMMER 2013 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY In response to the Special Committee on spontaneous learning. So too does furnishing Classroom Design’s inquiry, this literature these spaces with flexible seating, tables for review has been prepared to address the individual study and group discussion, vertical question; “What are the current trends in surfaces for displaying student and faculty work, learning space design at Princeton University’s and a robust wireless network. peer institutions?” The report is organized into five chapters and includes an annotated Within the classroom walls, learning space bibliography. should be as flexible as possible, not only because different teachers and classes require The traditional transference model of different configurations, but because in order to education, in which a professor delivers fully engage in constructivist learning, students information to students, is no longer effective at need to transition between lecture, group preparing engaged 21st-century citizens. This study, presentation, discussion, and individual model is being replaced by constructivist work time. Furniture that facilitates rapid educational pedagogy that emphasizes the role reorganization of the classroom environment is students play in making connections and readily available from multiple product developing ideas, solutions, and questions. manufacturers. Already, teachers are creating active learning environments that place students in small work Wireless technology and portable laptop and groups to solve problems, create, and discover tablet devices bring the internet not just to together. every student’s dorm room, but also to every desk in the classroom. Coupled with Classrooms should be profound places of projectors, microphones, and video cameras, revelation and discovery. Well-designed space the classroom experience is fully connected to has the ability to elevate discourse, encourage the internet. This provides new ways of creativity, and promote collaboration. teaching and new ways of learning that require Connecting indoor learning space to the natural specific physical support. world through daylight, views, and finishes has proven to improve student performance. By specifying common standards for the design Though technology and contemporary design and maintenance of learning spaces across serve an important role in connecting learners Princeton’s historic campus, the university can to the fast-paced modern world, preservation equip teachers and students to engage in of historic spaces contributes to an otherwise innovative and dynamic constructivist education. unachievable gravitas and majesty. Learning spaces extend beyond classroom walls to every corner of the campus. Planners and designers should create places for informal catalytic interactions. Widening corridors and designating lobbies, atriums, and other common areas as educational spaces promotes Classroom Design-Literature Review 2 Lawson Reed Wulsin Jr. 8/28/2013 • In some cases, these rooms should include group work stations that allow RECOMMENDATIONS multiple students to share a flat-screen monitor for collaboration and The following recommendations have been presentation prepared for the Committee and are based on the research and analysis that comprises this Classrooms should be linked by dynamic Literature Review. corridors, lobbies, courtyards, and paths. Increase the quantity and quality of small flexible • Informal gathering areas for groups of classrooms. two-eight people should include: o Comfortable seating and horizontal • These learner-centered spaces should work surfaces include: o Accessible electrical outlets Windows with views to the outside o o Wireless internet Natural daylight o o Vertical collaboration and o Robust wireless internet networks presentation surfaces (blackboards, that support high-speed creation whiteboards, pin-up space, plug- and sharing of media and-play flat screen monitors) o Walls prepared for presentation (blackboards, pin-up, projection) • Corridors and paths should be used for o Low-profile electrical outlets evenly ongoing and ever-changing display of spaced around all walls student and faculty work o Smooth and flat floor for easy rearranging of furniture Classrooms should achieve the high level of o Adjustable lighting for group design excellence that is the standard at discussion, presentation, and video Princeton University. recording. • Durable and healthy materials should be • Furnish these rooms with flexible used in furniture and finishes furniture: • Strong connections to the historic o Tables that accommodate two campus should be maintained and students working side by side enhanced when free-floating and can be • Lectures and other classroom combined with other tables to experiences that are distributed to on- create small-group work spaces, line learners should capture the unique large conference tables, and qualities of the Princeton Campus donut-shaped class discussions o Chairs with wheels and storage for bags o Teaching stations with simple laptop connections to projector(s) and control over lighting and window shades Classroom Design-Literature Review 3 Lawson Reed Wulsin Jr. 8/28/2013 CONTENTS Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................................................... 2 Recommendations ............................................................................................................................................................. 3 Introduction ........................................................................................................................................................................ 5 Learner-Centered Pedagogy ........................................................................................................................................... 7 Natural Systems ............................................................................................................................................................... 10 Spaces Outside Classrooms .......................................................................................................................................... 12 Flexibility ............................................................................................................................................................................ 14 Technology ........................................................................................................................................................................ 17 Conclusion......................................................................................................................................................................... 21 A Note from the Author ............................................................................................................................................... 23 Annotated Bibliography .................................................................................................................................................. 25 Table of Figures and Image Credits ............................................................................................................................. 48 FIGURE 1. GROUNDCOVER ALONG ELM DRIVE, PRINCETON UNIVERSITY Classroom Design-Literature Review 4 Lawson Reed Wulsin Jr. 8/28/2013 INTRODUCTION We know too much about how learning occurs to continue to ignore the ways in which learning spaces are planned, constructed, and maintained. –Nancy Van Note Chism, Professor, Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis The Special Committee on Classroom Design at Methodology Princeton University (the Committee) initiated this report to better understand the current The research used three primary portals to trends in classroom design at its peer material: the University of Massachusetts institutions. At the end of the Spring 2013 Amherst Library, the Princeton University semester, the Committee chose to commission Library, and the internet (employing the Google this Literature Review and after preliminary search engine to sort sources). conversations and basic direction, a broad net was cast throughout the available literature. Research was obtained through search engines, university research databases and scholarly What follows is an analysis of contemporary journal subscriptions. Search terms included: literature addressing questions of classroom classroom design, college and university architecture, design. This document is not a complete educational pedagogy, biophilia, technology in the summary or intended as the definitive word. classroom, flexible classroom design, space and campus planning. Thirty-eight sources have been Purposes included in the bibliography. These sources include articles from scholarly journals, This review provides a framework for the magazine articles, books, on-line publications, Committee to continue its discussions and and videos. The sources were identified development of classroom design guidelines for because of their relevance to the organizing Princeton University. This document question; with a few exceptions, all sources are establishes a summary of generally agreed-upon within the last decade and are focused on design strategies for 21st-century classrooms. college